Britain Turns to Chinese Textbooks to Improve Its Math Scores
Another series adapted from China to fit British curriculum requirements is used in around 400 primary schools in England,
according to Ni Ming, an editor at East China Normal University Press, the Chinese publisher of those books.
Under a $54 million initiative funded by the government, more than half the primary schools in England will adopt a teaching approach to math
that is used in top-performing places like Shanghai and Singapore.
Starting in January, teachers in England will have the option of using "Real Shanghai
Mathematics," a series of 36 textbooks translated directly from Chinese into English.
The mastery approach is believed to have propelled students in Hong Kong, Shanghai
and Singapore to the top of the rankings for the Program for International Student Assessment, a respected exam known as PISA, which tests about half a million 15-year-olds in over 60 countries every three years.
Mr. Ni, the Chinese publisher, said that the company was in talks with education representatives
in several other countries, like the United States, about adapting its workbooks.
Now, some British schools will try to replicate that success by using translated textbooks
that are otherwise all but identical to those in public elementary schools around Shanghai.